Special Issue: The Construction of the Future of Platforms
Central European Journal of Communication
Editor: Agnieszka Stępińska – Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
Guest editor: Nico Carpentier, Culture and Communication Research Centre, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
Various authors
Publisher: Central European Journal of Communication, Vol. 17, No. 1(35), Special Issue (2024)
Date: 4 July 2024
ISSN: 1899-5101
The special issue, originating from the Horizon 2020 EUMEPLAT project, reflects about the social construction of the future of platforms (and communication technologies). As there are numerous technological assemblages, fields in which they become activated and interact with, processes that take place within them, phenomena that are affiliated with them, and of future imaginings about all of these aspects, five thematic areas were selected-at the expense of many other options. For each of these thematic areas-algorithms and choice, surveillance and resistance, toxic debate and pluralistic values, destructive technologies and war, and gender in society-one research article has been produced and included in this special issue. The introduction of the special issue provides the paradigmatic, conceptual and methodological framework for all articles, while the special issue ends with the (edited) transcription of a roundtable debate, entitled “Future, Democracy and Platforms”.
You can download the full issue here.
Introduction: The Construction of the Future of Platforms
Authors: Nico Carpentier, Miloš Hroch
Abstract
The introduction of the special issue on the construction of the future of platforms provides the paradigmatic, conceptual and methodological framework for this special issue. Starting from a brief outline of the characteristics of the field of futures studies, the article supports the call to better embed in social and political theory, and frames the special issue, with its constructionist emphasis, as a contribution to this debate. In addition, the article provides an overview of the Delphi+ workshop method that was used, and describes the centralized data gathering process, into which all research articles of this special issue tap, to then produce their distinct analyses. This motivates the need to read this introduction alongside the five research articles that have been included in this special issue.
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Techno-pessimistic and techno-optimistic visions of surveillance and resistance in Europe
Authors: Vaia Doudaki, Panos Kompatsiaris, Jim Ingebretsen Carlson, Judith Clares-Gavilán , Dessislava Boshnakova
Abstract
Our study explores peoples’ visions of surveillance and resistance to surveillance, enabled through communication and digital platforms in Europe. The research involves future scenario development and analysis, which allows us to sketch out future outlooks concerning surveillance/resistance in Europe, examining how these visions reflect the main assumptions, fears and hopes about the future of societies in Europe. The analysis, which is anchored in surveillance studies, shows how the visions of surveillance and resistance are informed by people’s dispositions towards technology, which centre around techno-optimism and techno-pessimism, focusing either on the empowering or liberating forces of technology or on technology’s disabling and destructive power. These dispositions instruct ideas about the futures of Europe, seeing Europe as either a regulator or protector of people’s privacy and freedoms or as a surveillant apparatus, curtailing peoples’ freedom and democratic rights.
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Futures of algorithms and choices: Structuration of algorithmic imaginaries and digital platforms in Europe
Authors: Miloš Hroch, Panos Kompatsiaris, Volker Grassmuck , José Moreno, Lutz Peschke, Jan Jirák, Debashmita Poddar
Abstract
The increasing impact of algorithmically driven processes on human societies, which can exacerbate political, economic, and cultural asymmetries, raises questions about reducing human agency by constraining platform structures. We draw on the theoretical concept of algorithmic imaginary, which captures users’ appropriations and ideas of these processes. In this paper, we focus on the dynamics between agency and structure in algorithmic imaginaries regarding the future of digital media platforms in Europe. The paper takes structuration theory as a theoretical starting point and employs methods of futures studies to analyze how the future is constructed in scenarios developed by a diversity of experts participating in a series of workshops. The future scenarios analysis is mapped around four actors, namely platform users, platform corporations, algorithms and institutions. By considering the role of various actors, particularly institutions, and their interdependencies this paper contributes to more balanced conceptualizations of algorithmic imaginaries, which tend to be centered around users’ perspectives.
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Imaginings of the Future of Conflict and Communication Technologies: A Map of Four Anxiety and Two Hope Driven Scenarios
Authors: Nico Carpentier, Andrea Miconi
Abstract
The article presents an analysis of the construction of future scenarios in relation to conflict and communication technologies (CTs), on the basic of Delphi+ workshops and essay-writing sessions. Grounded in a theoretical reflection on the various forms of conflict—distinguishing between armed, grey zone and democratic conflict—in combination with theoretical reflections on the role of CTs in conflict, and the future imaginings of (communication) technologies, the analysis discusses six future imaginaries. Four of these future scenarios are negative as in a power take-over, the intensification of both an armed conflict, and of democratic conflict, and the harm inflicted on the environment and society in general. The two positive scenarios are the protective role of supranational organizations and cultural change. Together, these six scenarios form a map of how European experts are concerned about media/technology and military/technology assemblages, and how they place their hope in supranational political institutions and cultural change.
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Transforming Toxic Debates towards European Futures: Technological Disruption, Societal Fragmentation, and Enlightenment 2.0
Authors: Mehmet Ali Üzelgün, Iliana Giannouli, Ioanna Archontaki, Klára Odstrčilová, Barbara Thomass, Cláudia Álvares
Abstract
Online toxicity refers to a spectrum of problematic communicative phenomena that unfold in various ways on social media platforms. Most of the current efforts to contain it focus on computational techniques to detect online toxicity and build a regulatory architecture. In this paper, we highlight the importance of focusing on the social phenomena of toxicity, and particularly, exploring the public understanding and future imaginaries of toxic debates. To explore how users construe online toxicity and envisage the future of online discussions, we examine 41 scenarios produced by European experts from the field of technology and culture. Through a content analysis informed by a narrative approach and insights from futures studies, we identify three myths that characterize the future scenarios: technological disruption, societal fragmentation, and digital Enlightenment. After a discussion of their relations, we conclude by stressing the importance of platform transparency and user empowerment.
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The Future of Gender and Gender Equality Online: A Scenario Analysis of Imaginaries on Gender and Social Media Platforms
Authors: Babette Lagrange, Sofie Van Bauwel, Daniel Biltereyst, Sara Cannizzaro, Justine Toms, Yasemin Agca, Ingrid Andersson, Emma Bjorner, Achilleas Karadimitriou, Klara Odstrcilova, Stylianos Papathanassopoulos, Elisabetta Risi , Valentina Latronico
Abstract
The emergence and growth of the internet and social media platforms have engendered significant transformations in everyday life, affecting not only society’s most innermost life but also its structural organization. This digital realm impacts gender equality, giving rise to spaces for feminist community building and activism, but at the same time enabling online gender harassment and violence. Our aim was to construct possible scenarios of the future, focusing on foreseeable consequences of social media on gender (in)equality in Europe. Using the Delphi+ method, we generated diverse future scenarios envisioning the intersection of gender and social media platforms. Through an analysis of these scenarios, we identified three recurring themes situated on a continuum from utopian to dystopian perspectives, including various positions in relation to the question of social media as safe or unsafe spaces. This study then provides us with possible imaginaries in relation to gender and social media platforms.
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Roundtable discussion: Perspectives on the Futures of Platforms and Democracy
Authors: Miloš Hroch, Marie Heřmanová, Václav Janoščík, Dita Malečková, Martin Tremčinský, Nico Carpentier
Abstract
This is an edited transcript of the audio recording of the roundtable on Future, Democracy, and Platforms, which was organized at the EUMEPLAT project meeting at Charles University in Prague on 15 January 2024, in collaboration with the MeDeMAP (Mapping Media for Future Democracies) project. The current digital public spaces have been transformed by platformization, and besides the positive consequences such as democratization of communication or access to information, these processes driven by algorithms have brought political, cultural, and economic asymmetries. At the roundtable, we discussed challenges and threats to fostering more democratic platform environments in the future with experts from fields such as digital and economic anthropology or new media philosophy. Among the discussed platform related topics were public and cooperative ownership, the need to strengthen their democracy and imagination or pleasure as the key principles.
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